Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T13:10:23.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - It’s a Dung Job: Exploring Fuel Disc Production in Egyptian Monasteries

from II. - Production and Consumption of Food and Material Goods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2023

By
Mennat-Allah El Dorry
Edited by
Louise Blanke  and
Jennifer Cromwell
Louise Blanke
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Jennifer Cromwell
Affiliation:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Get access

Summary

Fuel is one of the key daily commodities needed for heating, cooking, and also industries. It comes in different forms, such as wood/charcoal, plants, and plant wastes. However, above all, animal dung was the most common fuel in the ancient world, including Egypt. So far, an in-depth exploration of dung fuel in Egypt has been lacking. Coptic monastic texts do refer to brethren tasked with sourcing dung that may have been intended for fuel use. Archaeological evidence of actual dung discs has been recovered from the monastic settlements of Deir Anba Hadra, John the Little, and Kom el-Nana. The same sites have also revealed archaeobotanical material that also attests to the production and/or use of animal dung fuel. This chapter discusses methodological concerns in identifying the archaeological evidence of dung fuel, and reviews the history of animal dung fuel in Egypt, focusing on its production and use in Egyptian monasteries.

Keywords

Fueldungarchaeobotanymonastic settlements
Type
Chapter
Information
Monastic Economies in Late Antique Egypt and Palestine , pp. 212 - 232
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alaa El-Din, M. N., Rizk, I., El-Lakkani, H., Abdel-Nabey, M., El-Sabbah, M., and El-Shimi, S. A. ‘Rural Energy in Egypt: A Survey of Resources and Domestic Needs’ in Agricultural Research Centre, Alexandria University (ed.), International Congress on the State of the Art on Biogastechnology, Transfer and Diffusion (Alexandria: Ministry of Agriculture, 1984), pp. 17–24.Google Scholar
Aldeias, V. ‘Experimental Approaches to Archaeological Fire Features and their Behavioural Relevance’, Current Anthropology, 58.S16 (2017), S191–S205.Google Scholar
Anderson, S. and Ertung-Yaras, F. ‘Fuel, Fodder and Faeces: An Ethnographic and Botanical Study of Dung Fuel in Central Anatolia’, Environmental Archaeology, 1 (1998), 99–109.Google Scholar
Ayrout, H. H. The Egyptian Peasant (Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2005).Google Scholar
Bagnall, R. S. Egypt in Late Antiquity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).Google Scholar
Becker, P. Inland Tribes of Southern Africa (New York: Granada Publishers, 1979).Google Scholar
Blackman, W. S. The Fellāhīn of Upper Egypt (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000).Google Scholar
Borgia, S., De miraculis Sancti Coluthi et reliquiis actorum Sancti Panesniu martyrum thebaica fragmenta duo alterum auctius alterum nunc primum … Accedunt fragmenta varia notis inserta omnia ex Museo Borgiano Veliterno, deprompta et illustrata opera ac studio F. Augustini Antonii Georgii (Rome: Antonius Fulgonius, 1793).Google Scholar
Bottema, S. ‘The Composition of Modern Charred Seed Assemblages’ in van Zeist, W. and Casparie, W. A. (eds.), Plants and Ancient Man: Studies in Palaeoethnobotany (Rotterdam: A Balkema, 1984), pp. 207–12.Google Scholar
Bouchaud, C. ‘Heating the Greek and Roman Baths in Egypt. Papyrological and Archaeobotanical Data’ in Redon, B. (ed.), Collective Baths in Egypt 2. New Discoveries and Perspectives (Cairo: Institut français d’archaéologie orientale, 2017), pp. 323–49.Google Scholar
Braadbaart, F., Poole, I., Huisman, H. D. J., and van Os, B. ‘Fuel, Fire and Heat: An Experimental Approach to Highlight the Potential of Studying Ash and Char Remains from Archaeological Contexts’, Journal of Archaeological Science, 39.4 (2012), 836–47.Google Scholar
Caminos, R. A. Late-Egyptian Miscellanies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1954).Google Scholar
Černý, J. Catalogue des ostraca hiératiques non littéraires de Deir el-Médineh (Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1937).Google Scholar
Černý, J. ‘Some Coptic Etymologies’ in Firchow, O. (ed.), Ägyptologische Studien: Festschrift Hermann Grapow zum 70. Geburtstag gewidmet (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1955), pp. 30–7.Google Scholar
Černý, J. Coptic Etymological Dictionary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976).Google Scholar
Charles, M. P. ‘Fodder from Dung: The Recognition and Interpretation of Dung-Derived Plant Material from Archaeological Sites’, Environmental Archaeology, 1 (1998), 111–22.Google Scholar
Crawford, P. ‘Weeds as Indicators of Land-Use Strategies in Ancient Egypt’ in Neumann, K., Butler, A., and Kahlheber, S. (eds.), Food, Fuel and Fields. Progress in African Archaeobotany (Cologne: Heinrich-Barth-Institute, 2003), pp. 107–21.Google Scholar
Crum, W. E. A Coptic Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1939).Google Scholar
Cruz-Uribe, E. ‘A Saïte Request for Payment’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 71 (1985), 129–33.Google Scholar
Delia, D. ‘Carrying Dung in Ancient Egypt: A Contract to Perform Work for a Vineyard’, Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, 23.1–2 (1986), 61–4.Google Scholar
Ekvall, R. B. Fields on the Hoof: Nexus of Tibetan Nomadic Pastoralism (New York: Waveland Press Inc, 1983).Google Scholar
El Dorry, M.-A., ‘Monks and Plants: A Study of Plant Based Foodways and Agricultural Practices in Egyptian Monasteries’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Münster, 2015.Google Scholar
Foaden, G. P. and Fletcher, F. Text-book of Egyptian Agriculture, vol. 1 (Cairo: National Printing Department, 1908).Google Scholar
Foxhall, L. ‘Snapping Up the Unconsidered Trifles: The Use of Agricultural Residues in Ancient Greek and Roman Farming’, Environmental Archaeology, 1 (1998), 35–40.Google Scholar
Gur-Arieh, S., Mintz, E., Boaretto, E., and Shahack-Gross, R. ‘An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Cooking Installations in Rural Uzbekistan: Development of a New Method for Identification of Fuel Sources’, Journal of Archaeological Science, 40.12 (2013), 4331–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamdan, M. A., Martinez, S. M., Vallès, M. T. G., Nogués, J. M., Hassan, F. A., Flower, R. J., Aly, M. H., Senussi, A., and Ebrahim, E. S. ‘Ancient Egyptian Pottery from the Subsurface Floodplain of the Saqqara–Memphis Area: Its Mineralogical and Geochemical Implications’, Archaeometry, 56.6 (2013), 987–1008.Google Scholar
Henein, N. H. Mārī Girgis, village de Haute-Égypte, 2nd edition (Cairo: Institut français d’archaéologie orientale, 1988).Google Scholar
Henein, N. H. Poterie et potiers d’Al-Qasr: oasis de Dakhla (Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1997).Google Scholar
Hill, P. Rural Hausa: A Village and a Setting (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972).Google Scholar
Hillman, G. C. ‘Reconstructing Crop Husbandry Practices from Charred Remains of Crops’ in Mercer, R. (ed.), Farming Practice in British Prehistory (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1981), pp. 123–62.Google Scholar
Hivernel, J. Balat: étude ethnologique d’une communauté rurale (Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1996).Google Scholar
Janssen, J. J. Commodity Prices from the Ramesside Period: An Economic Study of the Village of Necropolis Workmen at Thebes (Leiden: Brill, 1975).Google Scholar
Jeffery, R., Jeffery, P., and Lyon, A. ‘Taking Dung-Work Seriously: Women’s Work and Rural Development in North India’, Economic and Political Weekly, 24.17 (1989), WS32–7.Google Scholar
Kenoyer, J. M. ‘Experimental Studies of the Indus Valley Technology at Harappa’ in Parpola, A. C. and Koskikallio, P. (eds.), South Asian Archaeology 1993 (Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1994), pp. 345–62.Google Scholar
Klunzinger, C. B. Upper Egypt: Its People and Its Products: A Descriptive Account of the Manners, Customs, Superstitions and Occupations of the People of the Nile Valley, the Desert and the Red Sea Coast, with Sketches of the Natural History and Geology (New York: Scribner, Armstrong, 1878).Google Scholar
Lancelotti, C. and Madella, M. ‘The “Invisible” Product: Developing Markers for Identifying Dung in Archaeological Contexts’, Journal of Archaeological Science, 39.4 (2012), 953–63.Google Scholar
Linseele, V., Reimer, H., Baeten, J. de Vos, D., Marinova, E., and Ottoni, C. ‘Species Identification of Archaeological Dung Remains: A Critical Review of Potential Methods’, Environmental Archaeology, 18.1 (2013), 5–17.Google Scholar
Malleson, C. ‘Archaeobotanical Investigations at Tell el-Retaba. Ramesside Fortress and 3rd Intermediate Period Town (Area 9). Polish-Slovak (PCMA) Mission Seasons 2010–2014’, Ägypten und Levante, 25 (2015), 175–200.Google Scholar
Marinova, E., Linseele, V., and Kühn, M. ‘Bioarchaeological Research on Animal Dung – Possibilities and Limitations’, Environmental Archaeology, 18.1 (2013), 1–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marinova, E., van Loon, G. J. M., De Meyer, M., and Willems, H. ‘Plant Economy and Land Use in Middle Egypt during the Late Antique/Early Islamic Period – Archaeobotanical Analysis of Mud Bricks and Mud Plasters from the Area of Dayr al Barshā’ in Fahmy, A. G., Kahlheber, S., and D’Andrea, A. C. (eds.), Windows on the African Past: Current Approaches to African Archaeobotany (Frankfurt am Main: Africa Magna Verlag, 2012), pp. 120–36.Google Scholar
Matin, M. and Matin, M. ‘Egyptian Faience Glazing by the Cementation Method Part 2: Cattle Dung Ash as a Possible Source of Alkali Flux’, Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 8.1 (2016), 125–34.Google Scholar
Miller, N. F. ‘Seed Eaters of the Ancient Near East: Human or Herbivore?’, Current Anthropology, 37.3 (1996), 521–28.Google Scholar
Miller, N. F. ‘Sweeter than Wine’, Antiquity, 82 (2008), 937–46.Google Scholar
Miller, N. F. and Smart, T. L. ‘Intentional Burning of Dung as Fuel: A Mechanism for the Incorporation of Charred Seeds into the Archaeological Record’, Journal of Ethnobiology, 4.1 (1984), 15–28.Google Scholar
Moens, M.-F. and Wetterstrom, W. ‘The Agricultural Economy of an Old Kingdom Town in Egypt’s West Delta: Insights from the Plant Remains’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 47.3 (1988), 159–73.Google Scholar
Nunn, J. F. Ancient Egyptian Medicine (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002).Google Scholar
Peet, T. E. and Woolley, L. C. The City of Akhenaten: Part I: Excavations of 1921 and 1922 at el-’Amarneh (London: The Egypt Exploration Society, 1951).Google Scholar
Portillo, M., Valenzuela, S., and Albert, R. M. ‘Domestic Patterns in the Numidian Site of Althiburos (Northern Tunisia): The Results from a Combined Study of Animal Bones, Dung and Plant Remains’, Quaternary International, 275 (2012), 84–96.Google Scholar
Pyke, G. and Brooks Hedstrom, D. L. ‘The Afterlife of Sherds: Architectural Reuse Strategies at the Monastery of John the Little, Wadi Natrun’ in Bader, B. and Ownby, M. (eds.), Aspects of Egyptian Ceramics within their Archaeological Context (Leuven: Peeters, 2012), pp. 307–25.Google Scholar
Quibell, J. E. Excavations of Saqqara (1908–9, 1909–10): The Monastery of Apa Jeremias (Cairo: Institut français d’archaéologie orientale, 1912).Google Scholar
Rhind, A. H. Thebes, Its Tombs and Their Tenants, Ancient and Present: Including a Record of Excavations in the Necropolis (London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862).Google Scholar
Richter, T. S. ‘Coptic Alchemical Texts’, in Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry. Sir Robert Mond Studies in the History of Early Chemistry, Ambix Supplements (in preparation).Google Scholar
Rizqallah, F. and Rizqallah, K. La préparation du pain dans un village du Delta Égyptien (province de Charqia) (Cairo: Institut français d’archaéologie orientale, 1978).Google Scholar
Samuel, D. ‘Their Staff of Life: Initial Investigations on Ancient Egyptian Bread Baking’ in Kemp, B. J. (ed.), Amarna Reports V (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1989), pp. 253–90.Google Scholar
Sauneron, S. Les ermitages chrétiens du désert d’Esna I: archéologie et inscriptions (Cairo: Institut français d’archaéologie orientale, 1972).Google Scholar
Shahack-Gross, R. ‘Herbivorous Livestock Dung: Formation, Taphonomy, Methods for Identification, and Archaeological Significance’, Journal of Archaeological Science, 38.2 (2011), 205–18.Google Scholar
Sillar, B. ‘Dung by Preference: The Choice of Fuel as an Example of How Andean Pottery Production Is Embedded within Wider Technical, Social, and Economic Practices’, Archaeometry, 42.1 (2000), 43–60.Google Scholar
Smith, W. ‘Fuel for Thought: Archaeobotanical Evidence for the Use of Alternatives to Wood Fuel in Late Antique North Africa’, Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 11.2 (1998), 191–205.Google Scholar
Smith, W. Archaeobotanical Investigations of Agriculture at Late Antique Kom el-Nana (Tell el-Amarna) (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 2003).Google Scholar
Stiner, M. C., Kuhn, S. L., Weiner, S., and Bar-Yosef, O. ‘Differential Burning, Recrystallization, and Fragmentation of Archaeological Bone’, Journal of Archaeological Science, 22.2 (1995), 223–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teichman, E. Travels of a Consular Officer in North-West China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1921).Google Scholar
Valamoti, S. M. ‘Towards a Distinction between Digested and Undigested Glume Bases in the Archaeobotanical Record from Neolithic Northern Greece: A Preliminary Experimental Investigation’, Environmental Archaeology, 18.1 (2013), 31–42.Google Scholar
van der Spek, K. The Modern Neighbors of Tutankhamun: History, Life, and Work in the Villages of the Theban West Bank (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2011).Google Scholar
van der Veen, M. ‘The Economic Value of Chaff and Straw in Arid and Temperate Zones’, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 8 (1999), 211–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, M. and Charles, M. ‘What Goes in Does Not Always Come out: The Impact of the Ruminant Digestive System of Sheep on Plant Material, and Its Importance for the Interpretation of Dung-Derived Archaeobotanical Assemblages’, Environmental Archaeology, 18.1 (2013), 18–30.Google Scholar
Weidmann, D. Kellia: Kôm Qouçoûr ’îsâ 1. Fouilles de 1965 à 1978 (Leuven: Peeters, 2013).Google Scholar
Wetterstrom, W. and Wenke, R. J. ‘Kom el-Hisn’s Plant Remains’ in Wenke, R. J., Redding, R., and Cagle, A. J. (eds.), Kom el-Hisn (ca. 2500–1900 BC): An Ancient Settlement in the Nile Delta of Egypt (Atlanta: Lockwood Press, 2016), pp. 205–54.Google Scholar
Wietheger, C. Das Jeremias-Kloster zu Saqqara unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Inschriften (Altenberge: Oros, 1992).Google Scholar
Winterhalder, B., Larsen, R., and Thomas, R. B. ‘Dung as an Essential Resource in a Highland Peruvian Community’, Human Ecology, 2.2 (1974), 89–104.Google Scholar
Xiao, Q., Saikawa, E., Yokelson, R. J., Chen, P., Li, C., and Kang, S. ‘Indoor Air Pollution from Burning Yak Dung as a Household Fuel in Tibet’, Atmospheric Environment, 102 (2015), 406–12.Google Scholar
Zapata Peña, L., Leonor Peña-Chocarro, J. J. I. E., and Urquijo, J. G. ‘Wood and Dung as Fuel’ in Neumann, K., Butler, A., and Kahlheber, S. (eds.), Food, Fuel and Fields. Progress in African Archaeobotany (Cologne: Heinrich-Barth-Institute, 2003), pp. 163–75.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×